Green the Capitol Initiative
April 2, 2008
On April 2, Dan met with Martin Litton and Ed Begley Jr to discuss the Green the Capitol Initiative.
Born February 13, 1917 in Los Angeles, CA., Litton is a well know conservationist who has been a strong advocate for environmental protection for the last century. He is also a writer, a pilot and a photographer.
Litton began his career as a Grand Canyon River rafter. He became the 185th person to make the journey down the river when he completed it in 1955. From there he founded the Grand Canyon Dories in 1971, a commercial rafting company and continued to do so until 1990 and became the oldest person to complete the trip in 1999 at the age of 82.
He was a strong proponent to the opposition of the dams along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park. Litton, as an editor for Sunset Travel Magazine in 1960, also helped campaign to help establish Redwood National Park. He has served on the Sierra Club Board of Directors as well as the Advisory Committee of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
Most recently he has been in opposition to logging within the National forests, such as Sequoia National Park. At 91, he continues to lobby and advocate for conservancy.
Begley Jr. took after his parents and is an American actor in addition to a strong environmental activist and founder of Begley’s best, a biodegradable all natural cleaner.
He is most know for his Emmy-nominated role as Dr. Victor Ehrlich on the long- television series, “St. Elsewhere." Since then, he has moved to feature television and stage productions. His most recent projects include a TV series, “Living with Ed,” in which a crew follows him and his family around in his self-sufficient, solar powered Los Angeles home.
He has been an environmental pioneer in Hollywood. He regularly rides his bicycle and takes public transportation, and purchased his first electric vehicle in 1970. He has served as chairman of the Environmental Media Association, and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. Today he is active in spreading the conservation ideal as he tries to “live simply so others may simply live.”
Later in the day Begley Jr. attended a small ceremony outside of the Capitol at which a representative from Global Electric Motor Cars presented Dan and Congressman Earl Pomeroy, whose district the company is located in, with the keys to the CAO's first all electric vehicle.
